Helmut Kohl, the former Chancellor of Germany, died on the morning of Friday, 16 June 2017 in the Oggersheim district of Ludwigshafen, his home town, aged 87. In office from 1982 to 1998, he is widely regarded as the "father of the German reunification" and as a principal architect of the Maastricht Treaty which established the European Union (EU) and the euro currency. In 1998 he became the second person to be named an Honorary Citizen of Europe. Following his death, he was lauded by world leaders as "the greatest European leader of the second half of the 20th century" and was honoured with an unprecedented European Act of State in his honour in Strasbourg, France, attended by the leaders of the EU's nations and other current and former world leaders. Subsequently, a Catholic requiem mass was celebrated in the Speyer Cathedral in Speyer, Germany, after which Kohl was interred in the nearby Old Cemetery.
Helmut Kohl was survived by his two sons Walter Kohl and Peter Kohl, and by his grandchildren Johannes and Leyla Kohl. No member of the Kohl family, Kohl's children and grandchildren, participated in any of the ceremonies, owing to a feud with Kohl's controversial second wife Maike Kohl-Richter, who had among other things barred them from paying their respects to him at his house and ignored their wishes for a ceremony in Berlin and that Kohl be interred alongside his parents and his wife of four decades, Hannelore Kohl, in the family tomb.
Reactions
Domestic
– Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking from the German Embassy in Rome, said that "This man who was great in every sense of the word—his achievement, his role as a statesman in Germany at its historical moment—it's going to take a while until we can truly assess what we have lost in his passing." She lauded Kohl's "supreme art of statesmanship in the service of people and peace" and noted that Kohl had also changed her own life decisively.
International
– Prime Minister Charles Michel called Kohl "a true European" who "will be greatly missed."
– French President Emmanuel Macron called Kohl a "great European" and "an architect of united Germany and Franco-German friendship."
– Pope Francis lauded Kohl as "a great statesman and committed European [who] worked with farsightedness and devotion for the good of the people in Germany and in neighbouring European countries."
– Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called Kohl the "great old man" of European politics and "Hungary’s friend".
– Italian President Sergio Mattarella called Kohl one of Europe's founding fathers, and said that "he who was, rightly, described as 'the Chancellor of Reunification', worked with far-sightedness and determination, in years marked by deep and epochal changes in world equilibria, to give back unity to his country in the framework of the great project of European integration. As an authentic statesman, he knew how to combine pragmatism and a capacity of vision, furnishing a courageous contribution not only to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, but also to overcoming the dramatic divisions which, for decades, had torn Europe." Former Italian Prime Minister and President of the European Commission Romano Prodi called Kohl "a giant of a united Europe."
– Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent his condolences to the German people and the family, and praised Kohl calling him one of "Israel's greatest friends, he was completely dedicated to its security."
– Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Kohl was "a great statesman" who had shaped European history.
– Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło called Kohl "an outstanding figure and statesman, a great politician in exceptional times".
– Former Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev said that "it was real luck that at that difficult time [1989–1990] leading nations were headed by statesmen with a sense of responsibility, adamant about defending the interests of their countries but also able to consider the interests of others, able to overcome the barrier of prevailing suspicion about partnership and mutual trust. The name of this outstanding German politician will stay in the memory of his compatriots and all Europeans." Russian President Vladimir Putin said "I was lucky to know Helmut Kohl in person. I profoundly admired his wisdom and the ability to make well-considered, far-reaching decisions even in the most difficult situations." He called Kohl a "highly reputed statesman, one of the patriarchs of European and world politics."
– Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy lauded Kohl's role in European history and in the German reunification.